Blog/ Warren Morgan: Black hole in council finances caused by government

Posted by Warren Morgan246pc on January 22, 2016

Warren Morgan: Black hole in council finances caused by government

Warren Morgan, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council and leader of the Labour Group writes.

If you think about it, no politician would do anything that was hugely unpopular with the public. The negative press and the impact on their chances of re-election would make it something to be avoided at all costs.

Of course many things that councillors or MPs do will be supported by some and opposed by others, as public opinion is rarely if ever united on any particular issue.

One thing that is never popular is asking people to pay more, whether in council tax or parking charges. We are doing both as part of the forthcoming budget. Quite rightly, people are asking why.

The Conservative opposition leader on the city council, Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, led the criticism this week by saying, apparently without irony, that we are turning to residents to fill the “black hole” in council finances. Of course you don’t need to be an astrophysicist to know what has caused this particular kind of black hole; it is his Conservative government. More than £130 million of funding will have been removed over a ten-year period by 2019.